Get all 11 Rev Simpkins releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Apple, Pissabed Prophet, Saltings, For Every Number (EP), Poor Child for Thee: 4 Songs for Christmastide, Big Sea, Advent (Single), Sing Your Life EP, and 3 more.
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Hail to the new King of England
Hail to the new Sovereign of the States
When he comes around
You will know him by his crown
When he leaves you’ve learned that death’s his name
Sometimes he passes silently
Sometimes he snuffs your sense of smell Sometime he rests
Lays himself across your chest
Till you get to know him well
Kyrie Eleison
Hail to the new Duke of Lombardy
Hail to the new Prince of Peru
His taste is for the lost
The unloved, the shunned, forgot For the outcast and estranged
Kyrie Eleison
Pray mercy for the refugee
Pray mercy for the old and poor
Pray mercy for all those who mourn or die alone
And pray mercy when he knocks upon on your door
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2. |
Plough Sunday
03:24
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Wisdom shows
That down below this snow
Lies lifeless grain
From which the barley grows
Frost turns to dew
As green shoots work through
The cold black clods
For which we praise our God
We went out weeping and sowed
But when we’re going home is not ours to know
It’s not ours to know when we’ll break bread together again
Ice-skimmed streams
Let waters pass unseen
To creep into the creeks
That fold into the sea
Which breathes itself away
And forms the clouds and rain
That waters fruitful sods
For which we praise our God
We went out weeping and sowed
But when we’re going home is not ours to know
It’s not ours to know when we’ll break bread together again
Find me the priest
With her book and her bell
Bring us the ploughshare
To consecrate it well
Bless this blade
Which hard-worn hands have made
To turn the clods
Then, please God, turn our lot
We went out weeping and sowed
And when we’re going home is not ours to know
But we’ll break bread together again
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3. |
A Ballad of John Ball
03:51
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Every East Coast boy loves salt and light
And the chaos of the sea
When you live before the power of the waves
You learn cold equality
When to Peldon Hill from Mersea Marsh
The Black Death swept its way
Oh, the young John Ball saw that illness and death
Crave all people equally
Yet in the fields worked children and men
Who toiled as property
As the yoke fixed fast the ox to the plough
They were yoked to poverty
Holding all this suff’ring in his heart
John was called to be a priest
Reading how he cared for Jesus Christ
Was shown by his care for the least
As he learned the Word and prayed the prayers
New light on him did fall:
That if God’s love rests on every soul
Then each soul must care for all
So John preached this truth from Genesis:
That when Adam delved, Eve spun
As the only Lord was God above
Who was then the gentleman?
When the people rose and marched in hope
John went preaching at their head
And for telling kings their equal worth
He was tortured until dead
Through the mists of myth a truth speaks clear:
There’s a dignity in all
And the Commonweal’s a fragile thing
When power and wealth enthral
So let’s make a faithful pilgrimage
To the Chapel of John Ball
Where we’ll bow our heads and bend our knees
Praying make troublous priests of us all!
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4. |
For Every Number
03:53
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Sing with me to remember
Sing with me to forget
Sing from hope, not regret
I know you’re tired
I see you’re spent
We call you a hero
But don’t help you find the rent
For every number you knew the name
When you’re low, sing with me
When you’re low, sing with me
Sing with me to remember
Sing with me to forget
Sing from hope, not regret
When you get home
You feel alone though love and noise surround you
The memories linger on
For every number you knew the name
When you’re low, sing with me
When you’re low, sing with me
Sing with me to remember
Sing with me to forget
Sing from hope, not regret
When you’re low, sing with me
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5. |
Gathering Grounds
03:28
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Give me words
Give me grace
To make hope real in this place
Where fresh streams tumble down
Mingling at the Gathering Grounds
There springs pure water
All things are made new
And sorrow and parting and death are subdued
Oh won’t you lead us, lead us down
To the Gathering Grounds
Hope springs
Tears roll down
Both flow to the Gathering Grounds
Where our lost ones are found
Singing as true love abounds
There springs pure water
To soothe salted eyes
All absence is absent where love never dies
Oh won’t you lead us, lead us down
To the Gathering Grounds
Gentle Shepherd of sheep
Gather all who mourn and weep
Lead where joy can resound
Bring us to the Gathering Grounds
There springs pure water
All things are made new
And sorrow and parting and death are subdued
Oh won’t you lead us, lead us down
To the Gathering Grounds
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6. |
Ghost Harmonies
03:50
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When she sings alone in her room
Absence seeps into the walls
Closing her eyes
She summons ghost harmonies
Raising a hymn, silence falls
Hold me, hold me
Enfold me again
Hold me again
Hand shadows hand pressed to cold windowpane
Salted eyes meet through glass
Love brought us near
That same love keeps us apart
Fingertips slide away numbed
Hold me, hold me
Enfold me again
Ghost harmonies
Catch on the breeze
Beneath her door
She prays once more
To be held again
And to sing together
Some find hope down a telephone line
Some reach out through a screen
Some sit with nothing but the ticking of a clock
Some die alone unseen
Hold me, hold me
Enfold me again
Ghost harmonies
Catch on the breeze
Beneath her door
She prays once more
To be held again And to sing together
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7. |
St Runwald's Preachment
03:40
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Under an old Essex road
Lie the stones of a long-lost church
Named for St Runwald, a baby prince and saint
And here’s how that infant’s story’s told:
The instant that child was born
He pulled himself up and took breath
Crying, “My darling Mother, O my royal Father dear
In three fleeting days I’ll be dead
So call for the priest and his oils
Then draw some water from the well
And christen me Runwald by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
This night I’ve a sermon to tell!”
Raising his eyes to the heavens
He prayed that God might guide his infant tongue
A cot for his pulpit, swaddling bands for robes
“Harken all you sinners!” he began
“Beware of those babblers who hold forth
To fill the air with the cackling caws of crows
Who crave fools for their captains, train tricksters to be kings
Then fill their minds with proud imaginings
When riches buy favour and grace
And truth counts for nought when rulers speak
Then swap rumour for wisdom and raise up the humble and meek
As God puts down the mighty from their seats!”
When time came for Runwald to depart
The saint tried to ease his parents’ hearts
Saying, “Three dawns and sunsets makes a holy number of days
For in three days the Lord destroyed the grave”
Now listen well all you who have ears
For Runwald’s sermon calls to us all:
If you follow babblers or lend your trust to fools
By cruel whim, not love, you’ll be ruled
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8. |
Song of Songs
03:52
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Up on my bed my soul sought its love
I sought him, but I found him not
I called aloud, but no answer came
So I rose to seek my love
My lover spoke and said unto me
“Rise up, rise and come away
Though autumn’s ripeness must fade to death
Winter now is past
Winter can’t deny the spring”
Set me as a seal upon your heart
Passion is fierce as the grave
Its flames are flashes of fire
Many waters cannot quench love
Neither can this love be drowned
If all the world’s wealth were offered for love
It would all be scorned
It would be scorned utterly
Set me as a seal upon your heart
Passion is fierce as the grave
Its flames are flashes of fire
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9. |
In the Marsh a Desert
04:16
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At the mouth of the creek
that drains out to the fleet
I went praying, walking on the wall
To my right, warbling larks
To my left, muddy marsh
Bright behind me, burning blackthorn blooms
Ghosting past
A cross for his mast
Saint Cedd rides
Blessing the tide
On my heart: empty pews
Bolted doors, fonts unused
Hands not held, Psalms left unsung
So I ask Cedd for peace
Staring out to the east
Past his chapel and into nought
Seeking port
By the shore fort
Cedd arrives
Blessing the tide
From that same troubled sea
Wash up foe and missionary
Chapels rise and chapels fall
May the withdrawing roar
Thunder back to this shore
As the spring tide rushes on
Sailing home
Cedd stands alone
At the stern
Watching the tide turn
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10. |
John Henry's Prayer
02:11
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Through the long, long day of this troublous life
Support us, Lord, till evening comes
When the shadows yawn and the world is hushed
Life’s fever falls and our work is done
Then, in mercy, grant us safe lodging
And a holy rest and a blessed calm
And peace, peace at the last
So be it.
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Rev Simpkins UK
Notorious sinner-songwriter, folk symphonist & Anglican priest.
The Rev’s unique psychedelic gospel and gritty folk owes as
much to the Old Testament, & the dark folk tales & barren landscapes of Essex & Suffolk, as it does to his musical heroes Bert Jansch, Captain Beefheart & the Kinks. He comes from a long line of priests whose fiery performances characterise his own style.
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